WEEKLY SUMMARY: China's iron ore prices mixed, coke prices drop

Chinese prices for imported iron ore diverged in the portside and seaborne markets last week, while prices of the commodity gained ground in the futures market. For metallurgical coke, both its spot and futures prices trended lower, following a third price cut this month initiated by steelmakers.

The production of blast-furnace (BF) steelmakers was generally stable in the past week, with concurrent air pollution-induced suspensions and recoveries from BF maintenance works. The capacity utilization rate among the 247 BF steelmakers nationwide under Mysteel's regular tracking averaged 84.94% during December 19-25, higher by a marginal 0.01 percentage